


Learning Curve

by Leonawriter



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Gender-Neutral Frisk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-04-29 20:33:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5141594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk starts out their first journey as anyone would. They're scared, they're frightened, and they make mistakes. Sometimes, big ones. But most of all, they figure out that they can learn how not to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_C'mon, Frisk, stop dawdling - you know we're not gonna wait for you!_

That was the last thing they'd heard from their friends on the mountain. They'd followed the others up because otherwise, they said, one of them would tell their mom about something they'd done that wouldn't make the woman happy. 

(They'd been playing at being a hero again, Robin Hood or Peter Pan. The stick was a poor substitute for a real sword like in the movies and cartoons, but mom always hated when things were swung around like that. It was dangerous. Minnie, who was the one whose parents didn't mind a group of loud kids and one quiet one making a mess of the house every so often, was who'd had the DVDs in the first place, though, and it was Jack who'd suggested playing with sticks.

It was Dipper who'd made the suggestion of going up Mt. Ebott, and that anyone who didn't go along with them was clearly a coward and a wuss.)

Frisk ducked so as to not hit the branch in front of their face. Instead, it nearly tugged them back when it caught on the wool of their sweater, and they had to take even more time to untangle it.

 _Great_.  _Just great. I'm never going to find them now._

Oh, well. All they needed to do was get off the mountain... right?

They turned around, and instantly wished they hadn't. It was a long way down, and it hadn't seemed that far when they were walking with the others. Now, their feet hurt, and they were hungry, and if they weren't careful, it'd get dark soon.

_I'd better push on, then._

...

Frisk had once heard that it wasn't the fall that killed you, it was the part where you hit the ground afterwards.

They disagreed. It wasn't either of them. Oh, falling had been scary - but in a strange, worrying way, it was also a bit like flying, if you stopped thinking about it. And they'd landed pretty well, considering. Very well. Flowers, it seemed, were good for a soft landing, even if they  _were_ still aching all over.

No, it was the  _flowers_ that tried to kill you. 

'Now' was hours after that had happened, and after they'd been saved by a monster out of a fairy story book, the kind of which their mom didn't like. Frisk had only been scared for a while, though. They were soft, and they smiled, and when Toriel picked them up she smelled like cinnamon and butterscotch all at once. 

Things were... good. Well, maybe not  _good_ , but they were better than they could be. Okay. Okay was a good term.

They'd been jittery ever since Flowey. Toriel had helped, but Frisk had nearly  _died_. They'd been - okay, ish, with the dummy, but that was because they hadn't been alone, and they knew what was coming, and the dummy didn't even  _do_ anything.

They'd started shaking after their first encounter with a Froggit. It had just happened so fast, and the images that had flashed in front of their eyes were of 'friendliness pellets' rushing towards them, circling them, and they were  _scared_ -

It was over before they realised, and the monster was gone when they opened their eyes again, dust floating in the beams of light coming from above.

They didn't realise what the dust meant until several more encounters on, when they were brave enough to survive the entire thing with their eyes open. Only then did they realise that the dust  _was_ the monster.

Frisk had felt a sick feeling in their stomach, at that, and had wanted to just sit down on the cold ground and  _cry_ , because this wasn't fun, this was worse than getting told off for waving things around, this was- _  
_

_You IDIOT. Don't you know? In this world, it's_ _kill or BE killed._

Except, Toriel was nice, though. So. Maybe it wasn't  _every_ monster that was like that.

They weren't sure which they hoped was true - that their life was in danger in every encounter and they had to defend themself, or that they were... they were - well.

Maybe it was better not to think about it.

Either way, they'd be keeping that toy knife in their pocket. It was just a toy. Frisk had seen their friends mess around with toys that had harder edges that that. But even so.

It made them feel that much safer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this is just the beginning of a fic, and it's one I started before I even thought up the 'Do What You Will' verse. It might read as a straight-cut No Mercy run at first, but... things aren't always that simple. 
> 
> You'll see.


	2. Chapter 2

There was a cold chill coming in through the door, which had been opened a crack in the fight. 

Frisk shivered. They only  _had_ a light shirt and sweater on, after all. The spring weather on the surface could get chilly, but it didn't get  _this_ cold.

Their knees had begun to shake. Adrenaline was starting to wear off, and all they wanted was to go  _home_. Just like they had from the start.

_And it was your childish, crybaby want to go home that caused all this. She's dead. Because of you._

Frisk wanted to curl up and cry. So,  _so badly._ But the rational, logical part of their head was already at work, the part that had filed everything away neatly the night they'd run away from home and calmly sorted out what they'd need and how much the bus fare would be. The part that had screamed as they fell, but had known exactly  _how_ to fall, how to deal with the pain, because they'd gone through that much before.

 _Keep going_ , that part said.  _You can't look back. There's no changing the past. So just keep going._

_It's what you're good at, isn't it?_

Their breathing eased, although it still hitched every so often. That was fine. It was an improvement. They straightened up, knowing that they'd need to be able to take on  _anything,_ and being hunched up and tense wouldn't help with that.

One foot forward, then another.

Careful not to step in the dust, the already moving dust, the wind blowing it inward and back toward the ruins where the goat-lady Frisk had once accidentally called 'mom' had lived. It would be like stepping in someone's ashes, except worse, because you'd usually never see how that happened. Here, you'd  _caused_ it.

 _I didn't mean to_ , came the thoughts.  _She made me. She made me do it. She wanted to see that I could look after myself, I didn't know, I didn't know-_

It didn't matter. What was done was done, after all.

That cold part of them started thinking, again.

_It looked like she was alone here, anyway. The door looks like it would've been pretty shut if it weren't for that fight. If no one comes, they might not ever know._

_It could be a secret._

_Pretend it never happened._

Creep around. It isn't needed, but it  _feels_ like it is, and there's the same feeling the air as the graveyard behind the old church, the one the other kids would always say was haunted or full of zombies.

The door required a push to get the gap any wider, and because Frisk wasn't nearly as strong as Toriel was (had been), it takes a while longer than it might have. 

The moment it's fully open, the chilly breeze turns into a cold wind that goes right through thin sweaters and out the other side.

 _Don't look back,_ came that voice in their thoughts, right as they were tempted to see what this did to the dust.  _Don't. You can't._

_You've got to have the determination to keep moving forward._

Nevertheless, they couldn't move yet. Leaning, shivering, against the purple door, looking out at the forest that was covered in white snow, that was being crunched underfoot as they fidgeted.

Frisk shook their head. 

There wasn't any use in daydreaming. No use in looking around, when they'd just end up leaving it all behind anyway. None of that would get them out of this mountain.

Because that was what they were going to do, and once Frisk set their mind to a thing, there was no way they weren't going to do it.

Their eyes narrowed. They shook the snow off their sweater, and then balled they fists.

They could do this. They could. They just had to be  _determined_ enough.


End file.
